Locking mechanism for automatic elevator-doors



B; WEXLER. LOCKING MECHANISM FOR AUTOMATIC ELEVATOR DOORS. APPLICATION FILED-NOV. 2. 1918.

1,381,263. Patented June 14, 1921.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BENJAMIN WEXLER, 0F BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE PEELLE COM- PANY, A CORPORATION OF NEVT YORK.

LOCKING MECHANISM FOR AUTOIdATIC ELEVATOR-DOORS.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented J 11g 14 1921 Application filed November 2, 1918. Serial No. 260,838.

To all who 1222 6 may concern Be it known that I, BENJAMIN VVEXLER, a citizen of the United States, residing at the borough of Brooklyn, in the city of New York, county of Kings, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Looking hlechanisms for Automatic Elevator-Doors, of which the followin is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings, which form a part thereof.

My invention relates to locking mechanisms for automatic elevator doors, and more particularly to a mechanism for use in combination with counterweighted self-opening doors, provided with suitable means whereby any open door may be automatically closed. I

In elevator doors of the type to which my invention relates, each door opening in a shaft is closed by a single paneled, vertically sliding door, there being provided a single source of power controllable from within a car, and actuating means connected therewith and common to all doors in a shaft, whereby any door, when open, may be closed from this single source of power. Each door is provided with its own counterweight, so that when the door is released through this source of power, it will automatically open to the full extent. While the actuation means connected with this source of power will normally look all of the doors in a shaft, the actuation of this means, by the source of power, to permit the opening of one door, will have the same operative effect as to all doors in a shaft, thus necessitating the employment of supplemental locking means for each door in a shaft.

With this condition in mind, the object of my present invention is to so construct an elevator doorof this type, that no door in the shaft can be opened unless an elevator car is at the door opening closed thereby, and that when an elevator car is stopped at any door opening, the door at that opening may be opened by the controlling means for said source of power, Without requiring'any further attention from the operator. The supplemental locking' means through which this effect is secured, is so constructed that with the passage of a car up and down a shaft, it may be released as to each door and will be automatically restored to its locking position in the event that a car does not stop at that floor. In this manner the supplemental locking means will always be operative as to all doors in a shaft, excepting the door at an opening where the car may be positioned.

The invention consists in a locking mecha nism for automatic elevator doors embodying therein the novel features of construction and combination of parts hereinafter set forth and described, and more particu larly pointed out in the claims hereto appended.

Referring to the drawings,

Figure 1 is a front elevation showing the elevator door equipment on a plurality of floors of a building, said equipment embody 111g my invention;

Fig. 2 is a front view of one of the locl ing mechanisms applied to an elevator door; and

Fig. 3 is a side view of the mechanism shown in Fig. 2, together with a fragmentary portion of an elevator car.

Like letters refer to like parts throughout the several views.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in the drawings, a and 6 indicate single pan eled, vertically sliding doors, closing openings at different floors in an elevator shaft. Counterweights o are operatively connected with the door a upon opposite sides thereof, by means of flexible chains, cables or strips (t passing over sheaves (4 Similar counterweights b are connected with'the door 5, through chains, cables or strips 5 passing over suitable sheaves b The aggregate load of the weights (4 and of the weights 5, is sufficient to overbalance the doors a and b respectively, and thus have a normal tendency to raise said doors.

Each door in a shaft is provided, on opposite sides thereof, with laterally extending flanged projections. through which power is applied to close any door. These projections upon the door a are indicated at 0-0, and those upon the door 6, at cZcl'. Extending upon opposite sides of all door openings in the shaft, are flexible chains, cables or strips 6- passing through an opening in the pro jections c(Z and ocl respectively, and having mounted thereon. adjacent each door opening, a stop ball or block c'f', adapted to operatively engage the extension of the of the projections d door closing said opening, through which the chains, cables or strips e-f pass, to permit said cables to be used as actuating means for overcoming the weight a or 7) when it is desired to close the door.

The chains, cables or strips e-f pass over pulleys c f at the top of the shaft, and have connected therewith weights 0 sutficient-to overcome the load of these cables and the parts appurtenant thereto. Said cables also pass over sheaves e f at the bottom of the shaft. and about a sheave g, the ends of said cables being connected to a single cable 72, connected with any desired source of power, as the piston rod or" a pneumatic motor 2'. The power for said motor is controlled electrically from an elevator car by means of ordinary electrically actuated valve j, a single pipe i serving to lead the air to one end of the cylinder of said motor, and to permit the venting of said cylinder.

vA switch mechanism Z1 cauied by the el vator car 222-, controls the circuit to the valve mechanism 7'.

Mounted upon the supportingstructure for the guides'or tracks upon which each door in a shaft slides, and adjacent the sill of the door opening, is a pivotal latch lover a, the hooked head a of which is normally projected in the path of movement of the projection 0, 0, cl or cl, and the heel a ct which is adapted to abutagainst the wall adjacent said lever, as clearly shown in Fig. 3. Intermediate the point of pivotal support of said lever and its head, is a project ing' arm 0 having an anti-friction roller 0', said arm being of a length to bring said roller in the path of movement of a shoe we, carried by the elevator car in, in a manner to cause said shoe to move the lever '11- against the tension oi the spring a in a manner to disengage it from its cooperating projection upon the door proper, to permit the opening of said door.

The operation of the herein described mechanism is as follows V 7 Assuming that one door in the shaft is open, as shown in Fig. l, the latch lever n of that door will be moved out of the path d upon the door 6, by the shoe m upon the car in, as shown in dotted lines in 3, the weights I) holding the door in the open position and the weights e f holding all of the stopballs or blocks upon the chains, cables or strips e-f in their uppermost position. When the parts are in this position, the balls or blocks ef cooperating with the projections (Z(Z will still be in engagement therewith, but will be moved away from the projections c0 upon the door a and upon all other doors in a shaft. With this condition, the latch levers nupon all doors in the shaft, other than the door 6, will, through their operative relation. with their thus admits air to the lower part of the cylinder of the motor 2', raising the piston in said cylinder and exerting an upward pull upon the cable 1 2, and a downward pull upon the cables 0 and f, thus raising the weights c"f aid causing the balls or blocks e7 cooperating with the projections dc5', to

force the door downwardly to the full extent. The movement of the cables e and 7 mil also bring the remaining balls or bloc {S c thereon in engagement with the projections upon all or the doors in a shaft,

thusbeing in a-position to block any movement ot'any' ofthe doors. As the car an moves In the shaft, as it passes each door opening,the shoe m thereon will, through its engagement with the roller 0 at'each door opening, oscillate the lever win a manner to disengage it from this cooperating projection, but in the event that the elevator car does not stop at a floor, as soon as the car passes the floor, the spring a will restore the latch lever to its normal operative relation with the projection upon the door. r

The heel n limits the action of the spring a in av manner to position this lever in the path of movement of the cooperating projection upon the door, so that when the door is open, said lever-willbe so positioned as to be actua ed by the enga ement of the pro- Iectiontherewith, with the closing of the door. ln'this manner the operative efl'ect ot the latch lever is made positive, since even though a car may be started before the dociis completely closed, nevertheless the supplemental latch mechanism will be fully operative.

It is preferable to duplicate the latch lever a and its appurtenances, upon opposite sides oi the door.

'll hen a car stops at the sill of a door opening, the lever 01, will be held out of en gagement with its cooperating projection, so that to open a; door it is merelynecessary to actuate the switch 75, thus cutting off the power to the cylinder of the motor 2', and permitting the air in said cylinder to vent through said valve mechanism As the air is'vented, the weights e f 'will descend, and thus raise. the chains, cables or strips c-f, in a manner to simultaneously move all the balls or blocks e'f' thereon and permitting the counterweights upon the door at the opening where the car is, to descend and automatically open the door.

The construction of the motor 2' and of the valve mechanism 7', are old and well known in the arts, and are not therefore described in detail, particularly as any other desired motive power may be used for closing the doors, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

It is not my intention to limit the invention to the precise details of construction shown in the accompanying drawings, it being apparent that many variations thereof are within the province of the skilled mechanic.

Having described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to have protected by Letters Patent, is

1. A locking mechanism for automatic elevator doors embodying therein in combination with a sequence of upwardly Sliding door panels, each having laterally extending projections adjacent the bottom thereof, weights adapted to normally raise each of said panels, and means for automatically closing said doors,.including therein strips upon opposite 'sides of said doors, blocks thereon adapted to engage the top of the projections on each of said doors, and a motor controllable from within a car, adapted to exert a downward pull upon said strips, of supplemental locking means adja cent the sill of the door opening closed by each of said panels, cooperating means forming a part of said supplemental locking means respectively, and carried by an elevator car, whereby any of said supplemental locking mechanisms is released when the car is at the door opening adjacent thereto, and means whereby each of said supplemental locking mechanisms is operative at all other times.

2. A locking mechanism for automatic elevator doors embodying therein in combination with a sequence of upwardly sliding door panels, each having laterally extending projections adjacent the bottom thereof, weights adapted to normally raise each of said panels, and means for automatically closing said doors, including therein strips upon opposite sides of said doors, blocks thereon adapted to engage the top of the projections on each of said doors, and a motor controllable from within a car, adapted to exert a downward pull upon said strips, of a latch lever pivotally mounted adjacent the sill of each door opening, and adapted to pass over and operatively engage a projection on the panel closing said opening, a spring normally forcing said lever into the operative relation to said projection, and cooperating means carried by said lever and an elevator car respectively, whereby said lever may be actuated to release said panel when the car is at a door opening adjacent thereto.

3. A locking mechanism for automatic elevator doors embodying therein in combination with a sequence of upwardly sliding door panels, each having laterally extending projections adjacent the bottom thereof, weights adapted to normally raise each of said panels, and means for automatically closing said doors, including therein strips upon opposite sides of said doors, blocks thereon adapted to engage the top .of the projections on each of said doors, and a 7 motor controllable from within a car, adapted to exert a downward pull upon said strips, of a latch lever pivotally mounted adjacentthe sill of each door opening, and adapted to pass over and operatively engage a projection on the panel closing said opening, a spring normally forcing said lever into the operative relation to said projection, a heel upon said lever adapted to engage an opposed surface and limit the operative effect of said spring, and cooperating means carried by said lever and an elevator car respectively, whereby said lever may be actuated to release said panel when the car is at a door opening adjacent thereto.

4. A locking mechanism for automatic ele vator doors embodying therein in combination with a sequence of upwardly sliding door panels, each having laterally extending projections adjacent the bottom thereof, weights adapted to normally raise each of said panels, and means for automatically closing said doors, including therein strips upon opposite sides of said doors, blocks thereon adapted to engage the top of the projections on each of said doors, and a motor controllable from within a car, adapt ed to exert a downward pull upon said strips, of a latch lever pivotally mounted adjacent the sill of each door opening, and adapted to pass over and operatively engage a projection on the panel closing said opening, a spring normally forcing said lever into the operative relation to said projection, a heel upon said lever adapted to engage an opposed surface and limit the operative effect of said spring, and a shoe carried by the elevator car, and a projection upon said lever extending into the path of movement of said shoe,whereby said lever may be actuated to release said panel when the car is at a door opening adjacent thereto.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto atlixed my signature, this 21st day of October, 1918, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

BENJAMIN VEXLER.

Vit-nesses AUGUST KRUG, F. T. WVnNTwoRrH. 

